Tuesday, April 19, 2011

A Mighty Mighty Cheer!!

WE DID IT!! What an amazing weekend, and what an amazing team! Here are some pics for our viewing pleasure. In the comments below, will you write your favorite moment, funny story, inspiring story, etc, from this weekend?

4 comments:

Wishing I could photoshop myself out of the photos but then I need to remind myself that I really did this! I just loathe photos of myself. This time next year I am going to look so good if I can keep up the momentum!

Amy, sorry, but your picture, all sprawled out on the grass is my favorite. That was the theme of those hot, horrible legs. Just get it done, and then collapse! As for, my "moment," it's hard to decide between full on peeing myself my first two legs, no, this was not a trickle, full on pee, or my last leg, running almost an extra mile in the wrong direction with my fill in dad. I think that was it though. I had been really sick all day, wondering how I would finish my last leg. I started running, and this guy started talking to me. My guess is he was around 50 years old, but fit as can be. He was a marathoner. We were chatting as we ran and soon realized we were not seeing other runners. We were on the boardwalk on the bay side of Mission Beach. We kept running and then decided to call my van. No one answered! Finally, I got a hold of someone. We were supposed to be on the beach side boardwalk, not the bay side, and to top it off, we had been running in the wrong direction. On the upside, that mile was my prettiest mile of the race, even though it was off course. When we got back on course I asked me new friend how fast he was wanting to run. He said 8 min to 8 min 15 second miles. I said, ok, if I am too slow then feel free to go ahead. He said, no, I like the camaraderie. Super nice guy. We got to a stop light, and the exchange was right there. We had to wait to cross the road. I had forgot to start my garmin after I made the phone call to my team when we were lost, but he informed me we had run 6.76 miles, at just over an 8 minute mile. Our leg was only supposed to be 5.9 miles. It was a highlight for me because I was so sick before my leg, but this nice guy pulled me through at my fastest pace of the race, and an even longer distance than we were supposed to run. That was huge because before I started running that leg I thought I would have been barfing the whole time. Since everyone us LDS on our team, I have to say, I said a little prayer before this leg, when I felt so sick, and that guy was the answer to my prayers. Pulled me through with a strong finish.

Once again I come away from this Ragnar experience feeling inspired by all of you girls and by what we accomplished individually and as a team. Between the insane heat of our first legs and the sickness, tiredness, and extreme terrain of the rest of it, I thought we were pretty darn awesome.

Well, my most memorable Ragnar moment was when I got ready for my night run and went over to the exchange. I was using the potty before my run when I noticed a small rip in my left shoe. I was pretty upset because I had just bought my shoes. Upon closer examination, I realized that I was wearing someone elses shoe. I had my own shoe on my right foot and this other shoe (now I know it was Kristin's) on my left foot. I called the girls in the van and had someone run it up to me. I was just getting my shoe tied when Bri showed up...

So my funny story happened at the first major exchange. We were all vegging on the grass right after we sent Van 2 on their way. I decided it would be the best time to go change out of my sticky wet clothes into newer/fresher clothes. I climbed into the van and started stripping down. I struggled quite a bit trying to put on a new bra on a very wet sticky body and got it all tangled up around my neck. After a bit of a struggle, I finally got dressed and got out of the van to realize the windows were NOT tinted. People were roaming everywhere and undoubtedly got quite the show! Oh well, it's all good and I can chuckle about it now.

The whole thing was of great inspiration to me. I have gone from an overweight non-runner to accomplishing a major goal for myself. My night run was my most inspiring. It was fabulous and I was truly sad when I came into the exchange and saw that it was over already. I honestly could have gone another few miles. Not only was it awesome, I also ran 2+ minute miles faster! This leg alone has made me want to keep doing this.

Thanks again to everyone for letting me crash your party. I needed this more than anyone (except maybe Amy) can know. Thanks again!